Rainy Encounter
by Solitary Shadow
Summary: Dib annoys Gaz. She snaps and walks out. During that time it begins to rain, and Gaz meets a certain robot which will hopefully soften her mood... [GazGir, more friendship like] Firstfic.


**Disclaimer: **Invader Zim and related characters are copyrighted to Jhonen Vasquez and Nickelodeon. Although the latter kinda sucks because it canceled the show.

**Author's Note:** This is my first fic in the Invader Zim fandom, and... this one just kinda sucks. The opening to this fic is misleading, the characters are very OOC and it was a fic that I started and finished in a frenzy. First real major fandom I wrote for, and this one is not really that good.

But I do hope you like it. Me being a real fan of Gir, you would see him quite often in my fics... if I write any more, that is.

Do enjoy.

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Zim, Zim, Zim. It was all her brother ever thought about, talked about, bragged about. Gaz let herself drift away, fingering her Game Slave, lying backwards in her bed, staring blankly. From the other side of the room Dib droned on and on, loudly announcing the details of the plan Zim was supposedly making this time, occasionally pausing for effect. It appeared that he hadn't noticed that his sister wasn't paying the slightest attention; his scythe-shaped hair bobbed wildly as he gestured with his hands.

"...And at the end of the day, I shall defeat Zim once and for all! Isn't that grand, Gaz? I shall be hailed as the world's greatest paranormal investigator-"

Something snapped in Gaz's mind as he started to boast. It was those words again - the 'oh-I'm-so-great-I-shall-be-hailed' nonsense he spouted every _fucking _time. Didn't Dib care for anyone else? His family? Wouldn't he stop caring only for himself and that green alien-whatever and actually start caring for his family?

"Shut up!" Gaz finally shouted, chucking her Game Slave across the room at her brother's head. Dib yelped and staggered backwards as the console flew towards him; it narrowly missed his head by an inch, hitting his scythe-shaped hair and making the curl bend over crookedly. Other than that Dib was unharmed. The console slammed into the wall and fell on the floor with a thud.

"My hair!" The boy yelled, running his fingers through his hair. "Oh, the shame! What would they say if I go out with my hair in this state!"

Gaz glared at him, and saw only one thing; this was a stranger, not the brother she'd known. Dib, ever since Zim came on the scene, had turned into someone different. It was - obsession, should she say? Dib was permanently obsessed with foiling the alien's plans, and now cared little for his family. This _boy_ wasn't Dib. He wasn't the one Gaz had known, had observed, had liked as a sibling.

"Gaz, there was no need to be so touchy-"

"That's all you care about, isn't it?" The girl snarled. "Why don't you care for your own family for once? Hell, just take the bloody alien off your mind for a few_ hours_? Ever since _he _came here _all _you've been talking about is _him_!" She was on her feet, shouting, eyes wide and dillated in rage. Dib stared, confused, paralyzed with sudden fear for his sister.

"You just care for yourself!" Gaz screamed. "_You want to drive everyone around you bloody crazy all the bloody time, dance in your own fucking glory, never leaving anyone alone in peace, bragging all the time about your own stupid self-_" She had ripped off her skull necklace and was now slamming it into the wall with every other syllable, bits of plaster falling on the floor. Her brother stood there, mouth agape, flinching with each slam of the necklace. "_Fucking psycho_. Paranormal investigator, huh? Well, _you can shove it down the drain for all I care!_" She was trembling with rage now as she carried on stabbing the wall.

"Get out of my room, you _bastard_," She shouted. "Go on, scram! _I want you and your abnormally large head out of this room in five seconds!_"

Dib took the hint and ran for it, his frantic footsteps echoing along the hallway as he made a dash up the stairs. Gaz listened to his panicked gasping from the end of the hallway, the sound of rapid falling of feet fading. Still not satisfied, but figuring that it would have to do, she crossed the room and picked up the Game Slave. The switch turned on, but there was a crack running along the back. It was nothing that a good dose of superglue and common sense wouldn't fix, as the console was running perfectly, but it was enough to throw the teen off balance again. Gaz ground her teeth, picked up the necklace and started to stab the wall again.

"_I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!_" She screamed with each dull thud of the necklace.

There was a crack as the necklace snapped in two, and Gaz was left holding one jagged piece of plastic while the other dropped to the floor. She leaned against the wall in sudden exhaustion, panting, eyes closed. The plastic, upon point of breaking, had cut her hand and left a bleeding gash but she couldn't care less about that, for she hadn't even noticed.

"I'm okay," She breathed, hand on her chest, recovering from her tantrum. "It's okay, everything's alright, God-damnit, it's all fine. I have plenty more. It's alright. It's okay." She picked up the broken pieces, threw it out of the window, and got out a new one, putting it over her neck. The bleeding gash was noticed only then, and Gaz wasn't particularly concerned about that. Not much. The bits of plasters all around her room didn't bother her either. She put away the Game Slave carefully, went to the bathroom and washed out the wound with cold water. After dabbing at the gash with antiseptic cream she put a Band-Aid on it. Gaz threw the wrapper of the Band-Aid away, and then pressed her head against the cold enamel of the bath, feeling drained and dizzy.

It wasn't always like this. She had been in better times, in times where Dib had cared. Her father had cared. None of the two did care now, and Gaz felt resentful for that. Heartless as she seemed to be, she did miss human company and someone to really talk to.

Knowing that she would only find more means of self destruction if she stayed at her house, she went back to her room, put on a jacket and strode out of her house, going for a walk.

-----

Gaz didn't feel better at all even after forty-five minutes. One, because Dib still annoyed her and she knew he would greet her with that annoying cockiness of his. Two, because her dad wouldn't even know that she had been out. Three, because she could just imagine this scenario:

_Her dad - "Where's Gaz?"_

_Dib - "Went out for a walk. Looked stressed."_

_Dad - "Ah. She would be back soon, yes?"_

_Dib - "I think so."_

_Dad - "Good." (Goes back to work)_

And four, it was beginning to rain.

Gaz hadn't brought an umbrella with her, and she had no money to buy one. She couldn't stay out for much longer, but she didn't want to go home either. Cursing softly, she settled down in a bus shelter, glaring at the raindrops, hating Dib, her father, everything. She pulled her knees up to her chest, staring darkly at the rain clouds above.

That was when she saw it. Curiousity aroused, she stood up and went to take a closer look.

It was a dull metal object, buried halfway in the mud, unmoving. Gaz thought it looked somehow famillar, and kicked it lightly with her toe. To her surprise, the metal object rolled over, coughing, and spluttered as it hit mud again. She was freaked out for a second, but then relaxed.

It was that childish, immature robot sidekick of Zim's. Gir, was it? Gaz had no idea why he was out here, but she was slightly worried as Gir looked in bad shape. Kneeling down, she eased the robot up to a sitting position, wiping some of the mud away from its face. It still had the puppy costume halfway up. "Gir, what are you doing here?"

No answer. The robot whimpered and curled up, shivering, displaying none of the silly behaviour it normally did. Gaz picked the robot up without thinking, letting it nestle into her jacket. She saw the raindrops washing the mud off Gir's body, saw the steady drop of rainfall, and looked around. Her house wasn't far away. She hoped.

Holding Gir tight, she began to run.

-----

SYSTEM CHECK

ERROR IDENTIFIED: FOREIGN LIQUID SUBSTANCE

RESTART? Y/N

Y

RESTARTING...

Gir slowly opened his eyes. He was no longer outside, in the freezing cold, but rather had two layers of blankets wrapped around him. He blinked, feeling the whirr of his engines as the system within him restarted and began to run. He wasn't cold; in fact he was pleasantly warm and soft indeed. A comforting situation, he thought, compared to what had happened earlier in the day.

"You're awake now?" A female voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked around, seeing Gaz seated in front of the mirror, combing her hair into the jaw-shaped sharp hairstyle she always had. Gir nodded, wondering how she had found him, why she had brought him here, and why she even cared.

"Good. I thought you were a bit of a goner then." The girl put down the comb and gel, and looked at the robot with a small smile that quickly faded into a rare look of concern. "Why were you there? You know it would be too cold for you. You almost di- well, you're a robot, you can't technically die - I mean, you almost went offline beyond repair."

Gir frowned, and then sniffed, wiping his eyes. Gaz looked startled, as if she thought she had done something very wrong indeed. She went over to him, wrapping him in a soft blanket. "Hey, it's okay. You don't need to tell if it really upsets you."

She was being so kind; Gir thought that he should at least answer. "Master doesn't want me," He choked, tears spilling from his eyes.

"Zim?" Gaz looked confused and disbelieving. "Zim doesn't want you? Why would he say that?"

"He said I was useless after I'd spilled coffee on one of his mechanic plans," The robot wept. "And he threw me out. Master hates me."

"Oh no," Gaz replied, partly from disbelief and partly from concern. Gir looked over at her.

"Why would Master be so hurtful to me? I loveded Master! I would do anything for him!" The robot sniffled. The girl sighed in sympathy; Gir was too much like a child to understand that his attempts to cheer the atmosphere up wasn't appreciated by Zim. Still, it was so unlike the robot to be this subdued and sad. She patted him on the back and soothed him gently, inwardly suprised that she could warm up this much to a robot. Gir crept up to Gaz's lap and began crying pitifully and loudly into her clothes, clutching at the fabric. And the girl just let the robot cry, patting his back now and then, when normally she would have pushed off anyone who dared to do anything even remotely close.

She only looked up when she heard a series of footsteps clumping upstairs, and instantly her face contorted into one of distaste. Noticing the tension, Gir looked up.

"What is it?" He asked, wiping his eyes.

"Dib." Gaz replied briefly, glancing up at the ceiling with unconcealed hatred. "The stupid arrogant bastard..."

Knowing that the girl was quite angry again, Gir whimpered and nestled into her clothes. Her anger melted away as she saw the helpless robot, and she pulled out the freshly washed puppy costume from a drawer. Gir looked towards the flash of green and a smile crept onto his face.

"I washed it for you, Gir. It was muddy." Gaz said softly as she handed the neatly folded puppy costume to him. She stood up as the robot laughed, tears and sadness gone, hugging the costume. "You must be hungry. Do you eat anything? Anything you particularly want?"

"Pizza?" Gir inquired, hungry but scared in case Gaz went off into a fit again about humanity and its filthy food. A bit like Zim, she was, he thought. Bossy, arrogant in some cases, hating the human race, not caring much for others - but she was a bit kinder.

"Okay. We'll have pizza." Much to Gir's surprise, the girl replied calmly. "I'll order two. One each, because I like pizza almost as much as you do."

"Really?" Gir asked cheekily. Gaz's eyes almost bulged out as she looked over at her challenger.

"Look, I love pizza." She said clearly, almost glaring over at the robot. "Whoever dares to say otherwise _shall not live very long_." She grinned, showing her white, sharp teeth. Gir gulped and backed up against a wall, holding a pillow for defence. Laughing at the robot's shocked expression, Gaz turned around and dialed a number, placing orders for two pizzas. All the while, Gir played with the pillow, rolling around, screeching occasionally for effect. He stopped suddenly at one point, staring at Gaz.

"What?" The girl asked irritably as the robot creature stared at her.

"Why doesn't anyone want me, Gaz?" He asked, sadness clouding his eyes. "Master doesn't want me. All the SIR units look down at me. Dib-boy doesn't care. Even others don't really care for me." He looked up into her eyes.

"What am I doing wrong?" He asked clearly but sadly.

Gaz was temporarily lost for words; what was she supposed to say to that? Goddamn this robot for being so brutally honest! She racked her brains. Her normal response would be 'Because you make random noises, act stupid and never do anything properly.' but she figured that would be cruel.

"You're not doing anything wrong, Gir." She finally answered. "It's just that... people don't really appreciate the little entertainment that comes because they're all so dull nowadays." She smiled. "I like you, Gir. I really do. You are annoying and loud and all that, but you're not a bad guy. I like you really."

Gir, being a bit of a child, took this answer as satisfactory. He jumped up and hugged Gaz, rubbing his head against her body. "Thank you!" He cried happily, laughing, perfectly innocent in the moment. "I _love _you!"

Gaz was startled for a while, but then smiled awkwardly and hugged the robot back. "I love you too." She replied, to which the robot jumped off and started running around the room yelling in happiness before latching onto her again.

The bell rang downstairs. "It must be the pizza," Gaz muttered. She gently dislodged herself from Gir's grasp and walked downstairs. There was the sound of the opening door, a few mumbled protests, then a sound of someone getting pummeled. The girl walked calmly upstairs after a few minutes, carrying the pizzas and a large bottle of soda.

"The pizza man wouldn't accept the money because I was two pennies short of fifteen pounds." Gaz explained equally calmly at the dumbstruck robot. "And then Dib came down. So I got all my money back and I got my revenge too." She grinned, her mouth stretching all the way to the sides of her face, quite creepy in her moment. Gir didn't notice, as he was too busy splitting the pizza in half. The girl watched Gir with half amusement as he gobbled up the pizza with joy.

"Is it that good?" She asked dryly as she picked up her own piece of pizza and her Game Slave 2. Gir nodded, and then seemingly in bliss, tore off another chunk off his pizza and ate that one up as well. Gaz started up the game just as Gir turned on the stereo and the song 'Mr. Wonderful' came on. She momentarily fell silent, game paused, as an old memory floated back to her mind:

_"Okay, you. Do things. Make Tak's robot crazy." Gaz ordered, squinting as she often did when she was thinking._

_"Only if you dance with meeee." Gir sang, after she had finished barking out her orders._

_"No, never." She snarled. "Never, ever, ever, ever, ever."_

"Will you dance with me this time?" Gir begged, licking pizza grease off his head and rolling around the floor. Gaz stared at the little robot creature.

"I danced with you_ then_, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but properly this time? Pleeeeeease?" Gir begged, making cute puppy eyes not even Gaz could resist. She stared at him for another second, then smiled slowly. She turned off the Game Slave 2 and stood up.

"Sure, Gir." She replied, taking the little robot's clawlike hand in hers. "Why not."

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Well... yeah... that was the end.

It was this real crackridden piece, mind you, and I'll hate it by tomorrow. I probably will. But did you enjoy the oh-so-OOC-Gaz's antics? I hope you did!


End file.
